Sunday, September 30, 2007

So I'm procrastinating on an actual, paying writing assignment and squeeing about the new TV season instead.

Fall TV Round UpMonday: I DVRed the better of Josh Schwartz's two new shows, Chuck (on NBC) and really enjoyed it. Likable cast including the always awesome Adam Baldwin and the usually heinous Sarah Lancaster. And Chuck himself is not too Seth Cohen-y (my biggest fear for the show.) Funny and action packed and the conclusion hit just the right emotional note which is what Schwartz does best. I'm in. Bonus: my former girl crush, Rachel Bilson, is set to guest star in a multi-episode arc beginning soonish. Sweet.

In real time, I watched the third season premiere of CBS's How I Met Your Mother guest starring the adorable and sadly underused, Mandy Moore. I have no real use for Robin anymore, and Ted has only recently grown on me, but Barney, Lily, and Marshall are arguably the best "friends" on TV right now. Everybody is watching this show for NPH. I'm watching for Jason Segel. Maybe this'll be the year that HIMYM finally gets its due.

Highlight: The Heroes season premiered at 9 PM and not surprisingly, was utterly fantastic. We caught up with Matt, Molly, and Mohinder (now livin' it up My Two Dads style in NYC) and met some new heroes, Maya and Alejandro (pretty, Latino Wonder Twins with inappropriate sibling chemistry.) And they totally killed off George Takei. But as was hinted at in S1, the S2 premiere solidified that- ensemble, shmensemble- Hiro, Peter, and Claire are truly the stars of the show.

I'm not a huge Hiro Nakamura fan but pairing him with sexy Sark doing Monty Python schtick was genius. All of their scenes were light and funny.Funny in a totally different way were the Bennet (now Butler) moments. Hayden P. and Jack Coleman do some of the very best work on this show and seeing them onscreen again was the highlight of the premiere. Their (literally) painfully ordinary days in the new So Cal locale culminated in the standout hilariously deadpan family dinner sequence that frankly, looked like it belonged on another show but hopefully indicates a tonal shift for Heroes in its new season. Another standout- Claire's heartbreaking phone call to now, boozy, delusional, recluse Nathan. Claire wants to talk about how much she misses Peter. Nathan hangs up on her. Worst dad ever.Peter is presumed dead but in reality, not so much. He (finally) appears in the last two minutes, shirtless, chained, powerful as ever, and suffering a serious bout of amnesia. I won't tsk, tsk the show yet because I have faith they can do something interesting and original with it but, amnesia? Really?

All in all, a fairly awesome premiere. Here's hoping J.J. Philbin doesn't find some way to fuck it up (as is her wont.)

Tuesday- I only watched one show and only marginally enjoyed it so Tuesday might be my day off. As I mentioned in my inaugural post, Bret Harrison and I are occasionally thisclose so I felt somewhat obligated to check out his new show on The CW, Reaper. The premise does not appeal to me, the other cast members do not appeal to me, Kevin Smith EP-ing only slightly appeals to me but, Bret Harrison. It was okay. It gains points for being darker than expected and loses points for not being as funny as it promised to be. And the production quality is horrible. Seriously, S6 Buffy levels of bad. But, Bret Harrison. I set the DVR for next week's episode, but no series setting. Yet.

I've decided to make Wednesday its own entry because damn, there's a lot of programming Wednesday night.

Monday, September 3, 2007

So, about ten days ago cult TV fandom was alternately squeeing and OMG-ing over the news that Kristen Bell (eponymous star of the dearly departed, Veronica Mars) had joined the cast of Heroes. I did both. Bell's 13! episode run will commence in the fifth episode of the series's second season which premieres September 24th on NBC.

This news is by far the most exciting announcement I've heard regarding the Fall Schedule. Since losing three of my favorite series ever last spring, the only real TV return I'm anticipating is Heroes and as far as I'm concerned, Bell and Heroes are two great tastes that'll taste great together. As mainstream media sought to capture and contribute to the internet hype surrounding this casting choice by explaining a bit how Bell will fit into the series, many viewers were inadvertently spoiled- myself included.

Typically, I'm very pro spoilers. Heroes, however, works against this MO because the NBC drama's initial success lies in its capacity for jaw-dropping, "Holy Shit" moments; the series achieved many last season. Wouldn't want to spoil that. I didn't care enough to seek out spoilers last season and believed I'd go the unspoiled route for the second season as well. Truthfully though, I have not remained unspoiled for any TV show since about 1998. I'm such a spoiler fiend that I'm even spoiled for shows I don't watch. And the more I get into a show, the more I actively seek out spoilers. So I'm not super optimistic about this endeavor.

I've already learned of some changes in cast through sheer internet access, but the spoiler discussion thread at TWoP (complete with sides, new character descriptions, and episode synopses) sits at the top of the board, heavily trafficked, mocking me. I really believe I'll enjoy the show more if I don't spoil myself (and have regretted being so heavily spoiled in the past,) but I was also the kid who peeked under the bed at her presents two weeks before Haunnakah.

I predict I'll valiantly remain unspoiled for the next two weeks and then, on the eve of the season premiere, go on a spoiler binge the likes of which have not been seen since the Lionfeed of 2002 (when Canada aired Buffy eariler in the week and entire episode descriptions would appear online two days before the episode was seen in the U.S.) And as with any other binge, I'll vascillate between feeling sated and guilty. So begins a new TV season.

Watch the new season of Heroes beginning September 24th on NBC. Heroes Season 1 is now available on DVD. The special features are fairly disappointing but since NBC/Universal's fallout with iTunes, the DVDs are now the only way to see the first season. And it was gooood. Here's hoping the second season is great.